Jewel to close Urban Fresh store in Lincoln Park

October 22, 2009

Jewel-Osco is pulling the plug on Urban Fresh, the small format grocery store aimed at city dwellers.

The store at 1910 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park -- Jewel's first and only Urban Fresh -- is slated to close Oct. 30, confirmed Karen May, spokeswoman for the Itasca-based supermarket chain. There are no plans to build more, she said.

"After gathering key sales data and customer feedback, we decided to close the store," May said, declining to elaborate.

Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu Inc. opened the 16,000-square-foot test store in September 2008 with ready-to-eat gourmet meals, organic produce, a wine and cheese shop for folks who "don't have time to shop for groceries, much less take time to plan a meal," according to the Urban Fresh Web site.

At the time, Supervalu Chairman Jeff Noddle said the experiment would allow the company to expand into urban areas where real estate for larger stores is hard to find.

Jewel isn't saying why the concept didn't work. But grocery consultant Paul Weitzel surmises the pilot store was too much like a typical Jewel squeezed into a smaller space.

"Most smaller footprint stores are either very convenience-driven or foodie-driven," said Weitzel, managing partner at Willard Bishop, a Barrington-based supermarket research and consulting firm. "If you're in between, I'm not sure shoppers understand the difference."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been testing a small format store called Marketside that focuses on convenience. Other supermarkets are looking into squeezing into smaller spaces as a way to reduce overhead costs.

"Those stores aren't easy to do," Weitzel said. "It takes time to stay the course maybe they just don't have the time to do it.."

Meanwhile, earlier this week Supervalu disclosed plans to double the size of its discount chain Save-A-Lot to about 2,400 stores in five years. Save-A-Lot sells a limited selection of groceries at prices it claims are 40 percent below conventional grocery stores. It competes with Aldi, the Batavia-based discount chain that relies heavily on low-priced house brands and that has been expanding aggressively into Jewel territory.